(500) Days of Summer


Release date: August 7, 2009
Directed by: Marc Webb
Written by:  Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber
Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Zooey Deschanel, Geoffrey Arend, Chloë Grace Moretz, Matthew Gray Gubler, Clark Gregg

“This is a story of boy meets girl,” an omniscient narrator tells us as the film begins. Online or in person, a simple meeting is how every relationship starts — and that’s exactly what (500) Days of Summer is all about: a relationship. It’s one in a billion, but it’s one that people can easily relate to and as many have learned, not every relationship is your usual love story.

Marc Webb’s feature debut tells the tale of Tom Hansen, a young man who dreams of being an architect, and yet finds himself stuck working at a greeting card company. It is only when Summer Finn begins working at his office that his life seems to shift  into something a little more positive. While Summer may not believe in love, Tom finds himself falling hard for her from the moment they bond over a song by The Smiths. Starting from the end of their relationship, Tom recalls many of the times they had together in non-sequential order.

So rarely does a movie capture the curse of unrequited love so perfectly, so much so that this might just be the best one since Woody Allen’s Annie Hall. Whether it’s the Bergman references, Marc Webb’s use of split screen, or even the heavily flawed protagonist, who serves as a narrator of sorts, (500) Days of Summer has a lot to thank Woody Allen for. Many will take their chance to call it a rip-off of sorts, but writers Neudstadter and Weber understood the material they were working with — likely drawing from personal experiences to make this as down to earth as possible.

What’s really impressive about the writing in particular is the character of Tom. We meet him as a bitter man, choosing to only focus on the good times that he and his vision of Summer had. By naively falling in love with an idea rather than the real woman, he opens himself to a lot of pain. As we see the film mostly from his point of view, we are faced with the extremely unreliable perspective of a man with a broken heart.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays this love sick young man perfectly, from his highest to his lowest points. At his best, he dances — in what could be considered the happiest moment of the film — along to Hall & Oates’ You Make My Dreams. This scene showcases Webb’s talent as he brings his music video experience into play, while also crafting the only scene in the film in which the color blue is heavily featured that doesn’t involve Summer.  At his lowest, we have a wounded Tom writing a Valentine’s card that says, “Roses are red, violets are blue, fuck you whore.”

Zooey Deschanel shines just as brightly, molding herself to become the quirky girl that Tom thinks he loves while offering glimpses of the real Summer, the mature woman that Tom never took the time to understand. Her chemistry with Joseph Gordon-Levitt is overwhelming at times and Webb captures it in every scene that the two share together. The supporting cast offers a collection of characters meant mostly for comic relief, and in this they all definitely do their job, especially Chloë Grace Moretz and Clark Gregg, who deliver some of the best lines in their limited screen time.

All else aside, one of the biggest highlights of (500) Days of Summer is the music featured in the film, which accentuates what a terrific debut this is. Mychael Danna and Rob Simonsen’s subtle score offers a certain tenderness to emotional scenes between the characters, luring you in from the main title as the narrator begins establishing the tale. Aside from the score, the film makes prominent use of a stunning soundtrack compilation, providing a good contrast of fun and upbeat tracks like Doves’ There Goes The Fear against the subdued elegance of Simon & Garfunkel’s Bookends.

Many will find themselves brushing off (500) Days of Summer as a mediocre rom-com, but the truth is that Marc Webb’s debut film accurately captures the sheer stupidity that comes with falling for someone, even when they might not be the right one for you.

Rating: ★★★★½ 

Juan Barquin

Just yer average twenty-something college student with no time on his hands who ends up watching (and writing) too many movies and shows for his own good.

9 Responses

  1. Camiele says:

    I was always very curious about this film. If nothing else, your review of it made me definitely want to see it, I mean, of course, if Joseph Gordon-Levitt didn’t already seal the deal :)

    • Juan Barquin says:

      @Camiele, I’m glad you want to see it. It’s a very divisive movie and I know a lot of people who downright hate it. Most of the time the excuses are “OH I HATE SUMMER SHE’S A BITCH” or “ZOOEY DESCHANEL CAN’T ACT” or “TOM IS SO STUPID” to which I reply with 1) No she’s not, 2) Yes she can, 3) Yes he sort of is but that’s the whole point of the movie.

      It’s probably my favorite JGL performance aside from Brick honestly (because Brick is perfect).

      • Camiele says:

        @Juan Barquin, Well, of course… HaHa. People love to hate for the sake of doing it. Most people don’t even know why they do, they just hate because, sadly like most people who smoke cigarettes, it seems cool.

        I’m very eager to see this now. I actually saw the poster when it first came out and was very intrigued, but never got around to seeing it.

      • amy says:

        @Juan Barquin, what I’m most afraid is to re-watch this. xD I really enjoyed it on my first watch, but I haven’t ventured into the “wanna watch this again and again” territory.

  2. Dan says:

    …a bit like Beginners, a new romantic comedy that proves the genre isn’t dead and can produce some intelligently conceived films that have depth, character and originality.

    • amy says:

      @Dan, interesting comparison. Beginners, I actually wouldn’t link it too much to 500 Days, I didn’t really connect too much with Ewan and Melanie’s story as much as I was to Plummer’s story and background. And I definitely wouldn’t peg them in the romantic comedy genre.

  1. September 5, 2013

    […] that is heartwarming in a believable way. Maybe it wasn’t Blue Valentine realistic or even (500) Days of Summer realistic but it was satisfying in its own way and it had a pretty kick-ass indie rock soundtrack […]

  2. March 23, 2014

    […] are impressed with the way (500) Days of Summer dealt with relationships, and some others just fall for the epic cheese romance that was The […]

  3. May 27, 2014

    […] Gwen was smart, fun and charismatic to watch. For those who watched Webb’s debut film, (500) Days of Summer, it shouldn’t be a suprise that Peter and Gwen’s relationship was well […]

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